Not yet - but I'm trying! 

I play the pick-5 game in FL, but since I play Lotto too, I've often skipped a few days to save money.  Sometimes I buy QPs and sometimes I play a combination I've picked. Had I played my numbers in March, I would have won about $100 getting 4 numbers, but the most I won in 2007 was $11 getting 3 numbers. I also got a few Free Ticket wins (2/5)  It's easy to say "if I had only...." but some nights I thought about changing my numbers by +1/-1 or +2/-2 and would have hit the jackpot.  In FL it averages $250,000, but sometimes several people win. Last night nobody won, so the jackpot rolled down. That's the only time 4/5 pays about $1,000, depending on the number of winners. The odds for Fantasy-5 here are about 1 in 376,000.   I'm not sure if there is a "system" because every time someone makes a suggestion, I see a different pattern entirely.  For example, last night the number 17-20-21-22-32 was drawn.  no single digits,  3 consecutive numbers and 4 of the 5 numbers were over 18 (this is a 36 number game)   Also, I've seen a lot of repeat numbers, not just 1 number, but often 2 repeat the next night.  Maybe there is a system or pattern and, as time*treat wrote, it's too complex to describe in a post.  Still, since there are so many QPs that win, even if a system is valid, one cannot deny that luck is the major factor in hitting any jackpot.

36 choose 5 = 376,992 combos. One number will repeat the next day about half the time. Typically a pair of numbers will repeat within a week. Almost always within two weeks.

I think people get hung up on the idea that there is one all-encompassing-all-powerful-"formula" that wins all the time... and bakes cookies, too.

My view is that what you are seeing is really multiple patterns that sometimes overlap, which causes you to notice the "others". Count by 4s or count by 7s, sometimes you get the same value. Just like the v-trac method and the tic-tac-toe method will no doubt pick the same winner on occasion. That doesn't mean you toss one out for the other or cram them together. It's just a coincident wave in the cycles.

With as many people as FL, there is plenty of chance for a QP to match the winner.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. It spends the same.

Let me just clarify - when I said the most I won was $11 getting 3/5, I meant that was the highest amount I won playing the game. (average win is $8 or $9)   I got 3 out of 5 a few times. Still, if I bet $1 a day every day for 365 days and won 5 or 6 times (about $50) I would still be down $315.  I don't think a Free Ticket counts, although it is a free bet.  It always gives you a QP even if you play your own numbers. So if you have a system, the Free Ticket would need to be included in it. (your system would have to include a QP once in a while) Yes, I know some LP members will tell me to spend $2 to get the EZ Match, but then I'd be spending twice as much. 

time*treat writes:  I think people get hung up on the idea that there is one all-encompassing-all-powerful-"formula" that wins all the time... and bakes cookies, too

However, may I please elaborate?  What is the definition of "system" is it doesn't work to get you to the end result?  Yes, in science and logic there are many theories, but they all form a conclusion.  In mathematics, the answer is an absolute.  No mathematician would say "I think that 12 squared is 144."  It is either true all the time or it isn't.  It can't be true just a teeny, tiny fraction of the time.  A prime number is always a prime number. It is now and it will be in a million years.  Let's take a simple, everyday example in engineering.  No matter which car you purchase or which engine is under the hood, eventually the vehicle will go from point A to point B.  If your car starts you out at point A (the Lottery retailer) but doesn't get you to point B (Lottery Headquarters) then it isn't a good car or even a reliable one.  Why is a system any different?

So when playing the lottery, if no one system works the majority of the time or, when it does, it only gets you a tiny fraction of the desired result, to me it is not a system. 

LP members who win a jackpot are happy to announce it and usually back it up with some proof.  If you haven't found such an announcement then it probably because no one has won one in a while.

If your system is as good as you claim then you're wasting your time looking for something better here.  Continue during  what you're doing and when you win a jackpot let the rest of us know.

Good luck to you.

I would like to think that I have lowered my odds by playing this new system/method/plan (call it what you will).  I have increased my winnings significantly.....thats a fact.   Coincidence? I played a strategic quick pick system (believe it or not) for years as well and rarely won anything.  Love to bore you with that silly strategy.

Numbers repeat the next day and sometimes two days later...sometimes as much as 10-12 days later.  You number crunchers are well aware of this and many other fun facts/observations.  I try to account for this in my number selection.

 I don't want to start a big debate on statistics.  Seems alot of folks specialize (make a business) in "reporting statistics"...rather than providing answers/direction.

As I said, I don't expect anybody to follow my direction unless I have proven it works. I also woulnt buy anybodys system unless they proved "they themselves" won with it. 

I'll also know that luck will be one of the reasons for my success.  Can luck be manufactured?  Sort of...huh?

time*treat

I have to disagree. If anyone ever came up with a system that breat a game, the game would simply no longer be offered to play. 

Some folks who were involved with a very short lived sports betting operation by the state of Delaware could really tell you some stories in this regard.  

In the case of a Pick 5 lotto, even whittling the odds down to "a few hundred combos" is still economic suicide.  

No one who has a few hundred a day ito play s going to bet it on a lottery game - think about this, even if you did have such a "system", in no way, shape or form can you ever guarantee a solo hit.  

So the night a system works, four people playing birthdays and three other people who stopped to get gas play a quick pick and they hit, too.

Lotteries do not care how often anyone hits lower tier prizes, they know that most of those payouts go right back into the game.

(Most 4 of 5 payouts are an insult anyway, considering what they pay ans what they should pay).

If Ohio had EZ Match on Rolling Cash 5, I would need a part time job to play because most of my wheels have around 20 combinations. Those $1 payoffs for 2 out of 5 add up so if I had to play Fantasy 5, I'd probably have to use a different strategy.

Great evaluation of a lottery system; you nailed it!

"I don't want to start a big debate on statistics.  Seems alot of folks specialize (make a business) in "reporting statistics"...rather than providing answers/direction."

When you have to pick 5 out of 39 numbers it's a must to use statistics. Numbers do repeat the next draw and they did 44 times in the last 100 NY Take 5 drawings. I've used that strategy and put all 5 numbers into my wheel with a 1 of these 5 numbers must hit filter. But when I did, if one of those numbers didn't repeat or two numbers repeated, I couldn't win the jackpot. And in the NY Take 5 that would be over 50% of the last 100 drawings.

When you get into 1 skip or 2 days later, at least 1 of those (up to 10) numbers hit 76 times out of 100 draws. It's a playing strategy but if you must use about 8 numbers to pick 1, how many would you need to pick the other 4?

It's not that we don't want to provide answers or directions; it's that most people don't say "this is the way I'm picking my numbers and I get lots of 3s and an occasional 4; any ideas on how I could improve my method and get that elusive 5th number"?

If that ever happens, we could put our collective heads together and maybe a few of us will hit a jackpot.

I'm not sure what I said that you disagree with, but if you just have to disagree with me ...  

I leave it up to individuals to define what "beat a game" means. I think it's subjective.

How precise do I need to be for a general question? 100,000s or a 1,000,000+ of combos (depending on the game) down to something playable. If you think a few hundred combos is "economic suicide", then you'll just have to come up with something better, right? Geeez.

Every state's pick-5 game is not the same. Illinois splits the jackpot on the p5 game. My state lets up to 6 people win the top prize before it goes pari-mutual. I'm not worried about a guarantee of a "solo" prize. There are plenty of other differences in the games.

Now I see what other people mean about having to defend a post.
We're not all in the same state.
If my idea doesn't fit your situation ... don't use my idea.

I'd say to beat a game means someone has figured out how to play it and win consistently.